Anthropometric Characteristics and Mean Arterial Pressure in Preeclamptic and Normotensive Pregnant Women Visiting Antenatal Clinics: A Case Study in South Africa’s Mthatha Area

Abstract

This paper presents results from an analysis of patients’ records of 711 pregnant women (14-40 year olds) between June 2002 and March 2012 and is a retrospective study. The study investigated anthropometric characteristics and mean arterial pressure in preeclamptic and normotensive pregnant women visiting antenatal clinics in South Africa’s Mthatha area. BMI, WHR and MAP in Black African women in this area were carried out in order to fill a gap as data of association or correlation of such data on this population could not be located. The Research questions were: (a) Are MAP, BMI and WHR higher in preeclamptic women than in normotensive pregnant women in South Africa’s Mthatha area? and, (b) Which one of the parameters (BMI, WHR and MAP) can be used as a strong predictor of occurrences of preeclampsia in this area? The data were statistically analysed. The main conclusions were that there were higher MAP, BMI and WHR in preeclamptic women than those who were not. Also, the study found a high correlation of these parameters in preeclamptic women. BMI correlated with DBP, MAP and WHR (r=0.43, r=0.38, r=0.44, respectively), whereas WHR correlated with BMI and DBP only (r=0.44, 0.40, respectively). Therefore, MAP, BMI and WHR may be used as predictors of preeclampsia. Between the three, BMI correlated more with both DBP and MAP. Therefore, BMI may be a better predictor than WHR. Similar to other studies, we also found that age was a risk factor for preeclampsia and that waist circumference was higher in preeclamptic women.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p2075